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news.am, Armenia
Aug 27 2011
Number of sectarians in Armenia strongly exaggerated - Etchmiadzin
August 27, 2011 | 14:46
YEREVAN. - The information spread by representatives of NGOs that
there are 300 thousand followers of different sects in Armenia is
untrue, father Artenyan told a press conference on Saturday.
The priest argued that based on these incorrect data, society began to
express indignation with Armenian Apostolic Church and accuse it of
inaction.
`AAC is doing everything it has done for centuries. I am not
suggesting that the Church has no disadvantages but we try to do
everything possible to meet the spiritual needs of people,' said the
priest.
According to him, the announced number of followers of various sects
is greatly exaggerated and there is no official information at all.
`Some NGOs have decided that there are 300-350 thousand sectarians in
Armenia. At the same time they claim that all these `sects' do not
belong to apostolic faith.
That is, these 300 thousand people include Catholic Armenians,
Yezidis, Assyrians, Russians, Greeks and followers of other churches,
which the AAC does not consider sects. According to official
statistics, 180 thousand Catholic Armenians and 40 thousand Yezidis
live in Armenia. Therefore, the number of sectarians makes about 100
thousand people,' he said.
From: Baghdasarian
Aug 27 2011
Number of sectarians in Armenia strongly exaggerated - Etchmiadzin
August 27, 2011 | 14:46
YEREVAN. - The information spread by representatives of NGOs that
there are 300 thousand followers of different sects in Armenia is
untrue, father Artenyan told a press conference on Saturday.
The priest argued that based on these incorrect data, society began to
express indignation with Armenian Apostolic Church and accuse it of
inaction.
`AAC is doing everything it has done for centuries. I am not
suggesting that the Church has no disadvantages but we try to do
everything possible to meet the spiritual needs of people,' said the
priest.
According to him, the announced number of followers of various sects
is greatly exaggerated and there is no official information at all.
`Some NGOs have decided that there are 300-350 thousand sectarians in
Armenia. At the same time they claim that all these `sects' do not
belong to apostolic faith.
That is, these 300 thousand people include Catholic Armenians,
Yezidis, Assyrians, Russians, Greeks and followers of other churches,
which the AAC does not consider sects. According to official
statistics, 180 thousand Catholic Armenians and 40 thousand Yezidis
live in Armenia. Therefore, the number of sectarians makes about 100
thousand people,' he said.
From: Baghdasarian